School Grades May Not Reflect Grades Actually Earned

FLORIDA - School grades for Florida schools should be released by the end of the month, but those grades may not reflect what schools actually received.

That's because the Florida School Board of Education has decided that school grades cannot drop by more than one letter this year.

Meaning if a school went from a grade of an "A" and dropped to a "D" the lowest grade that would be recorded would be a grade of a "B."

School grades are based on FCAT scores, and as a representative from Alachua County Public Schools says, the ever-changing grading system is one reason for the new decision - "even the folks on the Board who said no we should leave it alone...even they acknowledged we aren't sure that this system is valid anymore. There have been too many changes and we aren't sure how much we can base our decisions on this system anymore."

Critics say this move is not being truthful about the scores schools really received and is just covering up an uncomfortable truth.